Leaked docs show HTC's DROID Eris launching on November 6th for $99, running Android 1.5
By Paul Miller 
posted Oct 31st 2009 1:20PM
posted Oct 31st 2009 1:20PM
[Thanks, anonymous]
posted Oct 31st 2009 1:20PM
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8GB for 99. I see what you did the verizon. can it be, guys-verizon being a good value?
1.5 software with old crappy hardware? There are many better phones out there!
Everybody is getting Android..where is AT&T's Android phones?
Haven't you heard about the Apple monopoly with AT&T? Figure it out on your own. They have some sort of iPhone or another.
@ DJ
What "Apple monopoly with ATT" ?? Monopoly on what? by whom?
Monopoly, now back at McDonalds!
@WinMo
Didn't you hear? Apparently, Apple has a monopoly on Apple devices :P
What is this, the fifth time we've seen this rumor posted? I think we get it now, no one doubts it will be $99 after MIB on the 6th, all the old hardware, etc. etc. etc. Old news. If the next vzw htc android post isn't about the Passion and instead just recaps this eris crap again I'm going to be upset.
Here's some guy that has the Android G1 on Tmobile working with 2.0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ijAgr7v8Mo
I can only imagine you will eventually be able to get 2.0 on the Eris once someone creates a hacked rom.
Seeing as the Hero is getting 2.0 and the Eris is almost identical to the Hero it's extremely likely that the Eris will get an official 2.0 update.
That's not an official 2.0 update. They just hacked the desktop emulator and put it on the G1. You don't want to run that. Extremely buggy. It's not optimized to work on the platform. HTC is eventually going to release 2.0 for real on the Eris and Hero.
This is not the Droid you looking for
yes it is...
It's not the tired pun we're looking for either.
"Touch screen zoom capability"? Is that pinch? One of the gripes was there was no way to enlarge font, will this do it?
The hero has multi-touch so it's pretty safe to assume that this will too.
$99 wow same price as iPhone 3 g
wonder if this will impact iPhone sales figures pave if 7 million sold per 3 months.
Will Eris sell million in 72 hours?
Can't wait to see sales numbers.
Money talks. Talk is cheap.
I half-expected to see spam at the end of this comment
Yeah, but Apple fans are rapid and will camp on the sidewalk for weeks just to please iSteve.
rabid sorry
money talks
talk is cheap
money is cheap?
WTF with these "mail-in-rebates" crap? This is 2009, not 1999. Ridiculous. People should boycott this mail-in rebate scams. Is Bestbuy selling them straight without rebates like the Pre?
We've gotten every mail-in rebate we've ever sent in. I like them. I know they are higher amounts because a lot of people don't bother/forget so I'll take the higher number rather than instant lower-value rebates.
@Pingles: Why should I pay $100 more than the advertised price? If the price is $99, than I shall pay $99, period. Main-in rebates are simply scams.
pika, if the person doesnt remember to send it in, it is their own fault.
@nintendo fanboy hater: That's why I said it's a scam. As a consumer, why do I have to deal with this crap, especially with retailers like Bestbuy skipping them. It's a scam forcing consumers to pay more than the advertised price, period. If you like giving more money than you have to to Verizon, then go ahead. For everybody else, boycott Verizon stores and go to Bestbuy.
If you buy online through the verizon store they give you the advertised price, with no mail in rebates. It is an instant discount rather. So if you dont mind waiting for 1/2 day shipping, buy online and you can still get your New Every Two $50 discount.
On a side note, i was talking to a Verizon rep the other day about the Droid and Eris, he said he played with them the day before and both would have 2.0 on it. I doubted him, gave him a funny look, and walked away. I hope he remember that funny look when someone tells him it is 1.5 on the Eris.
Best Buy doesn't do mail in rebates. They shave it off up front.
you save more with mail-ins though. not to mention the company also makes interest on the money you paid up front so everyone wins.
Then I propose everybody that wants this to go to Bestbuy and boycott Verizon stores. I can't remember the last time I had to deal with mail-in rebates, so why do we have to go through this old scam tactic again?
@nintendo fanboy hater: Bullcrap. How do I "save" money? I had to pay MORE than the advertised price. How is that saving more money? How does everybody wins? The only one who wins is Verizon since they scam you to pay up more than the advertised price.
It saves you money in that, if everybody mailed in their rebates then verizon would stop doing it and price the phones at 50$ more.
stupid people lose, smart people save a buck
@Lazarpandar: Your last statement is correct. Stupid people are willing to be scammed and pay more than they have to, while smart people skip the whole mail-in rebates scam altogether and buy the phone from Bestbuy.
Not to mention that you pay tax on the full price. In the end you end up paying just a little more then what is advertised.
Best Buy also saves you time by giving the rebate right then and there.
Mail-in rebates are not only misleading but also a time consuming PITA. Just sell at the advertised price outright!! Or as Lazarpandar said, split the "rebate" amount down the middle.
I need to clarify that while I'd rather not pay the extra $50, if they did stop doing misleading rebates and just priced the phones $50 higher, I'd be walking out the door without having to deal with mail-in crap thus saving me from having to jump through any more hoops. The $50 would be worth it even if I don't like it.
@nintendo fanboy
they don't "make" interest, you lost interest, assuming you would have invested that money, which i kind of doubt.
These nice Android phones are going to bury WinMo and the continuing success of the iPhone will finally kill WinMo.
That will be a good day for everyone.
Thats right! Less choices for all!
I never understood that way of thinking. I can understand not liking a product, and buying something else. But what good does it do you if it stops being offered?
Oh hey yeah! Great idea! Propose a boycott in the comments section of a random tech blog over something nobody cares about. Man, why didn't I think of that? You show 'em, tough guy! Stick it to the man!
Eris? Cool, but wheres mah HTC HD2 US phone?!!!!
Q1 2010, remember?
You just wait your turn!
(Not that I don't feel sorry for you)
Now, as for this phone, I feel that the Droid is kind of keeping this phone from getting a lot of attention, but meh, I'm sure a lot of people will buy it. (Because after all, you people seem to think that 100 dollars for a phone on an insanely expensive 2 year contract is cheap...)
@TT: Don't forget that you don't actually pay $99, you have to pay $199 up-front for the phone.
Mail in rebates ? Why is the land of the free so against protecting the consumer ?
Support for Android 2.0 on the Hero has been confirmed by HTC. There is no reason to believe it won't be available on the Eris. Here is the info:
http://www.techtree.com/India/News/HTC_Hero_to_get_Android_20_Update/551-107151-580.html
We just have to wait for HTC to fully integrate Sense UI with Android 2.0 and we'll be getting it once they're done. Yeah, we won't get 2.0 because of the third party program over Android, but Sense UI is so nice looking I don't really mind.
Oh great, so developers have umpteen versions of Android to contend with, along with umpteen form factors.
It's no wonder there are X0,000 apps for the iPhone. Write once, run once etc.
(Like Android's potential, think HTC can produce some great stuff, but from a developer and user angle, it's all very confusing.)
Uh, you don't have to write a couple of times. The only big things that affect your app is the screen resolution (Android 1.6 helps you handle this) and the version of Android. You can always expect to have touch screen input (as well as a back and menu button); if you are a lazy developer you can always just develop solely for the touch screen and do away with supporting other input methods. The skin and the processor differences don't matter to a developer since Android is VM based. If Android was native then the developer would have to worry about it. You have journalists who know very little about programming commenting on how the custom skins HTC and Motorola make it so developers have a hard time writing apps, when it isn't true.
There's only four versions of Android right now: 1.1, 1.5, 1.6, 2.0.
1.1 most people aren't using anymore. 1.5 probably has the most users right now. 1.6 made some changes that a developer might have to update their app to support, but every phone out there so far is upgradeable to 1.6, so 1.6 will likely replace 1.5. 2.0 didn't make many big changes that would break compatibility with 1.6. But these are version changes within the platform. Any other platform, even the iPhone, will have these changes. Having the same hardware doesn't change this (the iPhone is at 3.1 now).
The main thing holding back Android is little install base compared to other platforms. That should change fairly soon. Another thing is the limited internal memory on most phones, which mainly limits programs that require a large app size (for example 3D games). There is a workaround by downloading extra data to the SD card, but it would be nice if Google provided better support for this.
But it still got to 10k apps, which is the 2nd most out of all the various platforms if I'm not mistaken. That's a testament to how easy it is to write for Android. Main plus for me looking at it as a development platform is that the SDK works in all three major desktop OSs (Windows, OSX, Linux) and that you can write Android programs for free using a widely used tool like Eclipse. Also you can load programs via USB or directly from the web without going through the Market, which makes testing/distribution easier and more flexible.
Of course you can argue about writing Java vs Objective-C, but that's more of a personal preference.
You don't honestly expect an iTroll to read all that, do you? Do you know how many blogs and forums he still has to spam before the day's over?
Will be buying this for the wife... I'm getting the droid.